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Birthday Wine in New Hope

The Working Stiff had a birthday just this past Friday, and we celebrated as well as we could, given the dreary day. We have had quite a stretch of rainy and/or cold days, with but a few breaks of sunshine. I suppose it’s that old April showers thing, though the rainy streak does back up well into March.

At any rate, the Mrs. took a half day off from work and we decided – goll-dern the weather – lets go out! (Note that I knew a real person who used to say “goll-dern”, and variations of that, and it wasn’t me!) We set off towards New Hope, northeast of Le Chateau Working Stiff along the Delaware River.

Our first stop was the manufactured, but very charming touristy shopping & dining area known as Peddler’s Village, where we had a very nice lunch at The Buttonwood Grille. It being a Friday afternoon and not any sort of holiday, the restaurant and the area as a whole was very quiet. The one-and-a-half glasses of Chardonnay that we each had served as an excellent mood enhancer, and in fact a few rays of sunshine made it through the clouds! No doubt ordered up by the Mighty Zeus himself once he learned that it was my birthday.

After lunch, we took a pass on strolling around the village shops in favor of continuing on into New Hope to get the stroll-fix there. (And hopefully another glass of wine.) As expected, the town was also very quiet. We are usually there on a Saturday or Sunday, so it was interesting to see the streets, shops, and restaurants as empty as they were. Plus, we were the crazy people risking raindrops to stroll around the picturesque town, an activity that would generally be considered one for a sunny day.

The rain held off, Zeus threw down a meager bit of sun, and we sampled a few different Chardonnays at The Landing, a favorite spot on the river about a block north of the bridge over to Lambertville, New Jersey. The Landing has a large outdoor patio that is a great spot for lunch or dinner when weather permits. We like to sit at the adjacent outdoor bar if we just want a drink or a snack. In this case the bar was open but the plastic curtains were down. We still had a good view of the river.

On the stroll back to the car after our wine, we passed an alley with a metal gate that appeared to be holding back an army of zombie mannequins! (See pics.) That’s just something you take in stride when walking through New Hope!

Aside from Zombie Mannequins, New Hope has a huge assortment of casual eateries of all types. There are coffee shops and ice cream joints. There is an excellent French bakery that I consider a required stop. Known as an “artists’ colony” for decades, there are lots of small crafty shops and galleries. There are leather shops, candy shops, and a wonderful (and large) independent bookstore! Our visit on Friday was brief and we are already looking forward to the next one!